Romulus approves temporary ban on data centers

Well, things got heated tonight in Romulus, the latest chapter of the ongoing battle over data centers and artificial intelligence. The city getting ahead of controversy and slapping a ban on every new data center before construction even starts. Fox 2's Lauren Edwards joins us live from Romulus with the latest on this. Lauren. before construction even starts. Gosh, that was brought up tonight. And I can tell you that the meeting ended behind me at Romulus City Hall. But you won't be seeing a data center opening anytime soon here in the city of Romulus. Let's get into all the details and what was discussed. Now, those data centers known as the mega computers that's been popping up around. Well, excuse me, the proposals are popping up around small towns in Michigan, causing controversy. It was a hot topic of discussion in Romulus tonight. Residents expressing a number of concerns. Concerns from environmental concerns to health concerns and many people saying they simply do not want one here at all. And city council stressed that nothing has been proposed that a six month moratorium would prevent them from even looking at proposals or applications. So the city council voted unanimously for the moratorium. Here's what the mayor Robert McCrate had to say. It'll allow a little bit of time to draft an ordinance, so it'll give us some time to pull in some information, pull in some third parties to give us expert opinions and not just pass legislation, good legislation. Because there may be some need for data centers on a smaller level to support industry. You know, DTW may need a data center to support their industries. So we don't know. We need to look at all those facets before we pass legislation. Now, flock cameras were discussed as well. We were just here two weeks ago talking about it. So today they brought it up again, coming up on the edge, what was voted on. Reporting live here in Romulus, Lauren Edwards, Fox 2 News. Wow, that's a lot going on there. Obviously, we visited Romulus quite a bit recently. You were saying not just the data center, as you say, they're also now going to decide about flock cameras. Is that decision also happening sometime soon? Absolutely, Rupert, we're going to get all into it in The Edge, but I can tell you from two weeks ago, it was the hot topic of discussion. So many people had so much to say about it because it's just been controversial. So you'll see that all coming up on The Edge. We'll see you in less than an hour. Our Lauren Edwards for us live tonight. Lauren, thank you.